Broadband News

O2 top Ofcom's mobile broadband performance testing

Ofcom have released research into broadband speeds in the UK which compared
performance between the different mobile broadband providers in areas of good
3G coverage. The report shows that O2 top the stats as the fastest mobile
broadband provider, delivering web pages faster than the other four mobile
providers. They also had a lower average latency than 3, Orange and Vodafone.
On average across all the providers, the average speed in Ofcom's consumer
panel was 1.5Mbps and webpages took an average of 8.5 seconds to download. This
compares to an average fixed broadband speed of 6.2Mbps and 0.5 seconds to
download a basic web page.

"This research gives consumers a clearer picture of the performance of
mobile broadband dongle and datacards as consumers use these services to
complement fixed-line services or sometimes as their principal means of
accessing online services.

The research is another important step in Ofcom’s efforts to ensure that
consumers have the information they need to exercise their choice effectively
and to make the most of competition in the market."

Ed Richards, (Chief Executive) Ofcom

The testing commissioned by Ofcom included static probe testing and drive
testing which were performed by Epitiro. The first of these involved the
installation of 97 static connections performing hourly tests to each of the
five mobile operators (O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three and Vodafone) over 3G and
HSPA. The average download speed of these came in at 2.1 Mbps, although this
dropped to 1.7Mbps at peak times. The average web page load time recorded was
2.2 seconds with O2 performing better than all the other operators in this
regard.

Web page download times by operator and period of day. Source:
Ofcom

Looking at the difference based on levels of urbanisation, Epitiro conducted
drive testing within four different regional areas, although the testing was
completed whilst stationary. This looked at a dense urban city (Birmingham),
urban sprawl (along the M62 motorway between Manchester and Liverpool), high
density provincial town (Swansea) and high-density rural or semi rural counties
(Herefordshire and Shropshire). Over 45,000 tests were completed for this
across all five mobile operators.

The results from this are quite interesting as the testing within Swansea
produced barely better download speeds than in the rural and semi-rural areas.
This is despite there being good availability of faster connectivity using
HSDPA. The likely cause of the slow downs is put to less backhaul capacity
within these areas when compared with a denser urban centre. The 'urban sprawl'
area actually performed better recording more higher speed downloads than the
urban area and this is thought to to be due to contention on the network from
other users within the urban city area.

Ofcom's consumer panel of 1,179 dongle users completed over 330,000
measurements in total with 12 tests performed up to four times per day. This
was supposed to represent a more real-world representation of broadband
operators. Average download speeds clocked in at 1.5Mbps and there wasn't a
significant slowdown in the evening peak period as seen by the Epitiro testing,
but during off-peak hours of midnight to 6am, speeds did rise to 1.9Mbps. The
distribution of speeds tended strongly towards 1 to 2 Mbps as can be seen in
the below graph.

Distribution of average download speeds. Source:
Ofcom

Looking at web page download time (this was just for the HTML code, not for
any images on web pages), this took on average 6.5 seconds at off-peak times
but increased to 9 seconds at peak times. The overall average clocked in at 8.5
seconds. However, this was pulled by some slow download and in nearly 50% of
tests, the web page downloaded in less than four seconds.

The full Ofcom report (PDF) also goes in to further details on
other metrics which were measured such as latency. The general conclusions that
Ofcom formed are that speeds vary most based on geographic location. Contention
does operate as can be seen by the increase in speeds between midnight and 6am.
Performance is on average significantly below fixed broadband performance which
will make it less desirable generally as a replacement for fixed services.

Comments

O2 might have the fastest speeds if you are lucky to live in there HSDPA areas, but these are few and far between in Northern Ireland. 3 gives a much better overall coverage with only a slowdown in speed when you drop onto orange. Speeds are generally about 1.5mb and I even got 4.5mb in Rathlin of all places (Small island on north coast)

jtthedevil

over 6 years ago

Funny no O2 phone signal in Millport, West Coast.
Can't get 3G in Edinburgh at work.
Can't get 3G at home outside Edinburgh.

So where were their tests done ?

dgmckenzie

over 6 years ago

This is down to lack of mast upgrades, most are 7.2Mbps or less, in exception to a few 14.4Mbps that Vodafone has.

You pay peanuts, you get peanuts.

otester

over 6 years ago

Dont know who O2 paid for this result but this doesn't mirror my experience!

weesteev

over 6 years ago

It is odd that O2 came top (I know it's already been said). This test should have used a few hundred random post codes to test at then at lest it would have given a more real representation of real world speeds. Be interesting to see of top10 release their results for their mobile app.

timmay

over 6 years ago

Actually you can tell I didn't bother reading anything but the headline. Lol

timmay

over 6 years ago

I still think that the mobile companies are only concerned about getting their money back after paying stupid prices for their licences. Personally I would opt for using wifi hotspots in well populated areas but then everyone has their own individual preferences and budgets.

meldrew

over 6 years ago

for those TOO LAZY to google... >:(
http://www.gadgetstylist.com/blog/mobile-phone-coverage-check-your-mobile-coverage/

would help if you said where you live & what provider!!

comnut

over 6 years ago

In addition to my original comment, went to Newcastle over the weekend via London, I noticed some HSPA+ coverage, got ~4.5Mbps during the day.

Apparently Three have started silently rolling it out as well, this would explain some people getting 8Mbps in some cities.